Vacuum cleaner



June 8, 1943. J. WINTHROP e- 22,334

VACUUM CLEANER Original Filed Nov. 22, 1940 I INVENTOR, C x7511 Wi-IIEZT P A TTORNEX Reissued June 8, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE VACUUBI CLEANER John Winthrop, Wyckofi, N. 1.

Original No. 2,304,868, dated December 15,1942, Serial No. 366,673, November-22, 11940. Application for reissue December 18,1942, Serial No.

invention contemplates presenceof a liquid 'c'ontain'er, means to conduct air to the container below the liquid level and having its intake out of catching relation to air flowing through said passage, and -means to conduct fluidfrom the container at a point above-said -level-'and to said 'passage. I'hereby refuse 'of a certain class carried along withthe airfiowing "through-said passage will be" excluded from the system and particularly from the-container, whereby to-;prev vent arrest of the ebullitionand hence the'atomizingofthe 'liquid andalso'possible clogging of the system.

- In'the drawing,

'- Figi1isasideelevationmf a vacuum cleaner embodying the invention;

"Fig."2isa-viewofits nozzle 2 and said system partly in longitudinal section and-partly in elevation;

Fig. 3 is a right-hand end elevation of said nozzle'and system "with the container removed;

"Fig. '4' is a similarvi'ew of a modification; and

'Fig. 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view, with the container removed, of another modified form of the part of the cleaner including said .nozzle and system.

The intake-nozzle I,cylinder 2 forming .a discharge -nozzle and intervening fan or. blower housing 3.:of astandard type :of vacuum cleaner provide the a main ipassage a for refuse-carrying ainimpelled :generallyasper the arrow. x. by the Ian or blower' tno't shown). insaidhousing. This ,passage,1as usual, wi1l be coveredatits left-hand rim of the-cap having an indented portion ,5ato engage a screwrthread on the bottle-mouth.

The cleaner provides a fluid-conducting passagejb having an intake at b open to the interior f h con ne abot ethe 1 O th eat n liquid I placed thereinand an outletb open {to passage ,-.a. This pas a :may a sf rme vb a tube. :8 penetrating and-fixed in v the cap and the wall of z e :2 and pro ect n .1 1 t th m sage, or by.a ,-tube;9 EigA) penetratingsuch cap and .wall but arranged whollyegterior ,of the muzzle. outlet, 117 positioned in any case out of catching relation to the air impelled by the fanthrough passage a, by vVlI E iGhI mean that ;it may faceas in "Fig. 4 atright angles to the pathoffiow ofsuchairpastzit or,as inEig-S, more or .less in thedirectionofsuch flow. Belaiti-vely to .a certain intake cflto ibereferred to 'it is alsoulocated. .where vthe velocity of the air impelled through .passage so :by that-an ,is the greater, and rpreferablyvwhere the velocity of such air is themaximum. 'FIhegform shownby Fig. 4 has the advantage that thetube '59 provides no obstacle on which the air-carried refuse might collect "to form a .mass. between the end of the tube (as 8) and the wallz of the nozzle which may grow was eventually :toobstruct :the' outlet.

A passage c toconduct air- -from -.passa-ge a to the interior of the container at apoint-below th'eliq uidlevel therein is herexafiorded byatube -Ifl--comprisinga tubep-rop'er I Oa. penetrating the wall formed by nozzle '2 and the cap and. a hood Mb preferably covering the upper --:end of the tube proper and having its open side *facing in "the direction of arrow m, the tube proper {depending into the liquid. The intake 0' of this passage is 'locatedwhere the -velocity of the "air impelled through passa'ge a is lower than at the point where outlet b isiocate'd-wr here at the lower side -of passage a-where such velocity is least.

'Of course when air is implled by the blower through passage 11 with the I collector in covering relation to thefdischarge end .of the passage pressure is built up therein *which'wouldother- 'wise be of the same degree throughout the passage and the collector space, that" is 1 to say ofthe sam'ede'gree'atthe outletyb and intake 'cfgexcept that thefdilference in the velocities of-thethus impelled air, at these itwo fpoin'ts has to be taken into account. .Asindicated, the velocity at the outlet 1) is greater than .at the intake, wherefore thegpressure- -at the intake .is actua1ly .-greater than :that at the outlet; thereforeythere-is fiow light or buoyant particles in very considerable quantity pass with the impelled air into the bag or other collector, especially since the cleaners primary duty is the cleaning of carpets, rugs and other fabric materials. In my efforts to equip the cleaner with means to convey a treating fluid to the collector and its contents I found that when there was resort to a container whose contained liquid was to undergo ebullition and thereby atomizing it was necessary in some way 'to prevent such light or ---buoyant particles being driven into the container, since otherwise they so quickly collected in the liquid in amass which terminated the ebullition, to say nothing of the likelihood of clogging thesystem, that renewal of the liquid was necessary in some instances during a single use -of the cleaner. According to 'my invention herein disclosed, that is to say, in any form thereof, access of such light particles is substantiallynil. This I account for as follows:

Such light particles cannot of course enter the outlet b because the flow through passage in is toward the outlet. As for intake while there is fluid flow into passage 0 via the intake its velocity is little compared to" that of the 'air impelled tion being caused to take place through passage c, the container and passage 1), in the order named (because the velocity in passage 0. at b exceeds that at c) the intake should be faced in the way generally characterizing outlet D or out of opposition to, and preferably more or less in, the direction of flow through passage (1, and so not in catching relation to the air impelled by the fan through passage a.

It is to be considered that the invention broadly contemplates that the cleaner shall include a liquid container, a fluid-conducting means, here afforded by passage 1), having an intake open to the interior of the container above'the liquid level therein and an outlet open to the main passage of the cleaner and positioned to be subject to suction induced by flow of air impelled through said passage toward its discharge end, and means, here afforded by passage 0, to conduct air, from a point where the pressure is greater than at said outlet, to within the container and below said level, the latter means having its intake facing out of opposition to the direction of fiowthrough said, passage if it is arranged to take air therefrom. v I l If the cleaner includes a liquid container. have ing a transparent exposed wall portion, as the through passage (1 by the fan,..wherefo-re particles carried along bythe impelled air in passagea aredriven past the intake, the superior force of the impelled air and their own inertia representinga forcegreater than that of the current flow,- ing to theintake.

v This theory isjustified by the form shown in Fig. 5. Herethe tube H affordingthepassagec upstands into passage a-and maybe said to have its intake corresponding =to-c here nearly coincident with the plane of the .inner bottom surface of nozzle 2. There is a port lzfacing incatching .relation to the air impelled by the fan through passage (1 v (or here directlyv contra to arrow 3:) 'anda port l3-at the top of the tube having preferably atleast the same area as port l2. i4 is a tube affording the passage b; it is assumed to depend short of and tube II to reach into the liquid in the container. If port Ill be closed or omitted the mentioned light particles will in a matter'of aquite short time 'so cometo charge the liquid that the container contents havefto be removed and fresh or clear liquid substituted. With port l3 active and port I2 closed the system operates without charging the containerwith said particles practically indefinitely, although it is in this case true that more particles enter the container than in the forms first described. Here, again, the preponderant force of the fan-impelled air, plus the inertia of the particles, therefore appears toprevent the latter from responding to the lesser force of the flow into and through passagec.

The impelled air and'particles, on entering port 1 I2, obviously at once return via port l3 to passage a; sothat the effect "isas if the part of the tube above the above-indicated plane were removed,

leaving intake 0' open directly to passage a.

Hence it follows that, flow according to my inven- It isv to be understood that my invention isnot' limited in its application to vacuum cleaners but may be applied in theoperation of any apparatus having a passagefor flowing air, as in-air-conditioning systems. q Y

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is: i f I 1. The combination, with anapparatus having a passage for flowing air, which passage isof a substantially constant cross-sectional. area from end to end thereof of an ebullitionsystemlim eluding a. container containing a bodybf liquid, an air conductor having its intake opentothe exterior of the container and out of catching relation to air flowing through saidpassageand its discharge outlet discharging to theliquidin the container below the normal level thereof, and a conductor arranged to receive liquid in atomized state produced by discharge a: air to said liquid body by the first conductor and having its discharge outlet arranged to discharge to said passage where the pressure therein is less than that opposite to said intake of the air conductor.

2. The combinatiomwith an. apparatus having a passage for flowing air, which passage. is of. a substantially constant cross-sectional. area from end to end thereof, of an ebullition system including acontainer containingv a body of liquid, an air conductor having its. intake open to said passage and facing out of catching relation to air flowing through said passage and its discharge outlet discharging to the liquid below the normal level thereof in the'container, and a conductor arranged-to receive liquid in atomized state produced by: discharge of 1 air :to' saidliquidbody by said passage toward the discharge end of the latter, and means to conduct air, from a point within said passage where the velocity of such impelled air is less than that adjacent to said outlet, to within the container and below, said level, the latter means having its intake facing out of opposition to the direction 01 flow through said passage.

4. The combination, with an apparatus having a passage for flowing air, which passage is of a substantially constant cross-sectional area from end to end thereof, of an ebullition system including a liquid container, fluid-conducting means having its intake open to the interior of the container above the liquid level therein and its outlet open to, and positioned to be subject to suction induced by flow of air impelled through, said passage toward the discharge end of the latter, and means to conduct air, from a point within said passage where the velocity of such impelled air is less than that adjacent to said outlet, to within the container and below said level, the latter means having its intake facing generally in the direction of flow of the thus impelled air.

JOHN WINTHROP. 

